The Club continues its support to local community organisations with a bucket collection for RUSH 2The DEN on 27th September against Long Eaton United.
RUSH 2The DEN is a unique non-profit community venture housing two thriving local charities, both founded and managed by very dedicated DBS-checked volunteers.
RUSH 2The DEN Tots & Adults – Charity number 1172562
A place open to all babies, tots & adults 9.15-2.45 daily where through play activities we believe in ‘Inspiring young people to achieve’. We offer opportunities to gain, increase & develop skills, knowledge, self-awareness & confidence; enabling them to make positive life choices through our extensive play sessions. Sessions usually include Messy Play, Stay N Play, Sensory Play, Crafty Fingers Soft Play, Interactive & Push Pull play. Hi-Tea & Little Chefs and Dad’s Stay N Play Sessions too. We typically see over 250 little ones with their adults weekly. We charge a small entry fee of £2.50 which is reduced significantly with pre-pay card options. If a family is in need of attending but is financially unable, we then give free pre-pay cards out to enable them to use our facilities and gain support.
RUSH 2The DEN Youth Club – Charity number 1175976
Award-winning unique youth club: The activities are varied and will meet the needs of all who wish to attend between 5 and 17 years old. Our sessions provide learning opportunities through weekly themes including cooking, crafts, team games, music, canoeing, camping, life skills.
Given its ‘inclusive policy’ no young person will be denied access because of affordability. Sensitive arrangements will be put in place where and when necessary to enable our special events to be attended by all. We currently have 80+ young people attending our age relevant evening Youth Clubs. Our Young people pay £1 to attend which gives them a sense of ownership and respect, which coincidentally is the only rule in youth club “Respect”.
With the Food Donations, Swap Shop, and various other support options each year we support and estimated 6300 people annually with now 45 volunteers.
We are based in an old church building, having a main hall with high ceiling (and apex void space above), two smaller rooms and a kitchen. The level of support we are able to offer our community is currently limited by the space we have available, and we are having to constantly juggle the competing demands of storage, administration and meeting space as well as our core community functions. See below for more details of all the things we have going on!
Having already raised the initial £10k last year to gain the planning to expand upwards and fit another floor above the main hall to utilise the void space. With the admin, storage and need for smaller meeting and counselling rooms can be removed from the ground floor, this would make a huge difference to our ability to serve our community further our main fundraising is now underway. We are now at 25% of our £100k target for our upstairs build.
